Offense, rain combine to put out the Flame

Major League Baseball is about to commence, but VSU is in the middle of its conference race.

Standing at 19-11 overall and 10-6 in the Gulf South Conference, the VSU Blazers baseball team had six conference games left coming into last weekend, and because of the rain two of those games were cancelled. With only four conference games left, VSU needed a win against Lee University to solidify its standing in conference and establish itself as a postseason-caliber team.

Despite the rain filled weekend, the Blazers were still able to play a game this past Saturday and came away with an exciting 7-6 victory in a fiery matchup over the Lee Flames.

The game started off strong for the Blazers after a sac fly in the first inning and RBI singles from Tyler York in the third and Scott Mathews in the fourth gave VSU a 3-0 lead heading into the fifth inning.

It was in the fifth, however, Lee would steal a 4-3 lead, capped off by a two-RBI single from Chris Adams. Lee would add another couple of runs in the top of the sixth to extend their lead to 6-3.

Things turned back in the Blazers’ favor in the bottom of the sixth. After an RBI groundout from Mathews, Dalton Duty hit a go-ahead three-run bomb to put VSU up 7-6.

Roman Donofro pitched two scoreless innings after retaking the lead, and Dustin Hersey pitched around two walks in the final frame to pick up the save and give the Blazers the close win.

The Blazers continued their hot-hitting on Wednesday evening in Americus. VSU broke out the bats against Georgia Southwestern and earned a blowout 20-5 win.

VSU continues its road trip this weekend with a Saturday doubleheader and another game Sunday against the Mississippi College Choctaws.